Reporter Says Her Trinidadian Husband Was Detained at Fort Lauderale Airport Last Night

Donald Trump's travel ban last week was directed at seven majority-Muslim countries: Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, and Sudan. Trinidad, which sits seven miles off the coast of Venezuela in the Caribbean, is nowhere near any of those nations.

That fact, however, apparently did not stop customs agents from stopping a Trinidadian man — the husband of a prominent reporter — at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport yesterday. Stacy-Marie Ishmael, a former reporter for BuzzFeed and the Financial Times, said on Twitter around 9 p.m. yesterday that her husband had been detained by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol. Frighteningly, she claimed Border Patrol agents said her husband could not see a lawyer.

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Ishmael declined to speak to New Times last night. At the moment, it's unclear exactly why Border Patrol stopped her husband or if President Trump's recent executive order was cited during the stop.

"CBP says he has 'no right to counsel,'" she wrote. Given the fact that Trinidadians are in no way supposed to be affected by Trump's travel ban, the case could have frightening implications for the way law enforcement officers are imposing the president's immigration restrictions.

My husband, a Trinidadian citizen and a US permanent resident, is currently detained at FLL. CBP says he has "no right to counsel".

Many immigration advocates have feared Trump's travel restrictions could expand and eventually affect other majority black, brown, or Muslim communities. At the moment, it's unclear why Ishmael's husband was detained.

New Times has reached out to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol for more information about the incident, but thus far the agency hasn't responded.

Jerry Iannelli is Miami New Times’ daily-news reporter. He graduated with honors from Temple University in Philadelphia, where he developed a reputation for pestering college officials until they cursed at him. He then earned his master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University. He moved to South Florida in 2015.